Links to start out a great 2013

This year has been amazing.  I am so thankful for the wonderful people that I have in my life, the amazing opportunities that have come my way and just being HAPPY all the time.  After being continually sick for the past few years (and finally, FINALLY! just recently figuring out why I was sick) I have put my health in front of everything else and made me realize that taking care of myself needs to be the most important thing because if I don't take care of myself, how do I expect to take care of others, take care of my business, take care of everything in my life that I want to take care of.  I've made small changes like going to yoga 3 times a week, working out consistently, eating better and just taking the time to work on myself or just enjoy being with myself.  I'm not good with words but I hope that if there are readers out there that are just like me and tries to put everything else but yourself first, please take the time to be good to yourself.  You will find yourself much more happier and at peace than ever.

I wanted to share a few articles that I came across that I bookmark and read often and hope that this can help you guys get a great start to 2013 as well.  I added a few little excerpts from each article but hope you click over to read the full articles.

 Good basic tips to keep in mind, always.

4 Ways to Detox from the Inside Out from MindBodyGreen

long wordy post, click to read more...


I think this is something a lot of us deal with and the tips are not anything we don't already know, but great reminders to think about every so often.

5 Tips to Avoid Overextending Yourself from Think Simple Now

I read Erica's blog as she's got great tips for entrepreneurs but I thought that this was a great and relevant article for everyone.  I'm not a facebook person (I use my page for the blog but don't use my personal page so rarely read what my friends are up to - I'd rather just hang out with them in person to find out what they've been up to.) but I do read lots of blogs and end up comparing myself to some bloggers that seem to have the most amazing lives and then all of the sudden start to feel bad about my terribly inadequate life.  I don't feel like that most of the time as I know that I'm lucky to have the life that I have, but sometimes spending too much time reading blogs does that to me.  It's hard not to compare yourself with others but it's something I'm working on.  I like the perspective that Erica took in her post and made me think differently about comparing myself to others.

The Nastiest Habit (That We All Have) from Erica.biz

Marie Forleo is a great inspiration for entrepreneurs and small business owners but I loved her latest video which she's emphasized that the best present you can ever give is your presence.  It emphasizes the holiday season but we need to remember this throughout the year. 

I had a few experiences with a friend who, at dinner, just me and him, would check his phone every 2 minutes and would laugh at his phone and make all sorts of emotions and then would finally turn his head back to me and then in the middle of the conversation would become distracted again and look at his phone, hoping to see an incoming text.  It was, to say the least, very annoying.  After those dinners, I promised to never take my phone out in the middle of dinner or whatever I'm doing when I'm with friends and family.  For those of us, especially bloggers, but anyone who is very active in social media, it's something that we've fallen into a habit of checking our phones so often.  And at one point, I can admit I was really bad at it and had to have my husband point out to me how bad it was getting.  I do admit to taking my phone out to take photos every so often but my rule is that I don't instagram/facebook it until I'm at home and not in the middle of dinner.  I do love hanging out with my blogger friends that get the whole social media thing and don't care if we take pics or instagram them but most of my friends are not into social media so don't really understand it and so I try to respect that when I'm with them. 

Lately I've been working on finding a good work-life balance and since I work from home it's so easy to work all the time as my work is just right there but I know that when my husband comes home at night, he wants to hang out with me and not his half distracted wife who's needing to check her email or working on our next collection, etc... I try to warn him when I'll be needing to work longer so he can expect it (just like he lets me know when he needs to stay at the office late), but to me, my husband is the most important thing in the world to me and I would never want it to be where my work is or seems to be more imporant than him or our marriage.  After a year of working from home and figuring things out I finally have a good system and a work-life balance that my husband and I are more comfortable with but it's still a struggle and something that I want to improve on.  Anyway, long story but I love the message of the best present you can ever give is your presence so wanted to share it with you all.

Thank you all so much for reading and visiting my blog.  I truly appreciate all your support.  I wish you all health, happiness, love and lots and lots of new shoes for the new year!